When you arrived at work this morning and flipped on the light, which kind of bulb as it? A lovely, energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulb or “CFL?” Or was it one of those round, older, energy-sucking incandescent light bulbs?

I hope it was one of the newer ones for your sake as well as for the rest of us. I was reading online this weekend when I saw the most amazing and horrifying statistic: only 20 percent of light bulbs being purchased are the new style that save as much as 75% less energy and last ten times longer than the old style bulbs.

Wow, I thought, who is buying those energy-thieving bulbs? Who is cheating themselves and writing a carbon-creating check that our earth can not continue to pay? I don’t know. I just can’t imagine.

Energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs will pay for themselves within one year of their purchase, according to most experts. They do cost a little more, but the savings realized both for the buyer and in terms of lessening the carbon footprint caused by all of us is so great that we can no longer afford not to buy them.

For the last 6 to 12 months as this recession has unfolded, I have thought perhaps the bulbs weren’t being used as often as possible because of hard economic times. I mean, if you’re having a hard time making this month’s payroll, you can’t expect to “reap the financial reward” of a light bulb paying for itself in a year if your company goes under in that time. So I understand not replacing old, still operating bulbs for many companies.

And its hard for me to suggest getting rid of something before its time. Before it’s fully used up or broken. I hate the wastefulness of doing that. But it’s time to get rid of those old light bulbs. Maybe for some struggling businesses, that switch should wait.

Homeowners, though, are another story. I was at the home of some financially strapped friends last week. They have lost their home and are suffering through bankruptcy at the moment. But every one of their light bulbs is a CFL bulb. They are cutting their costs as quickly as possible. They are working on it.

So if you can possibly afford to replace those old incandescent bulbs, get on it. Go get those bulbs. They will pay for themselves. Because 20% is just not enough. We need to start flipping that number around, so that 80% of light bulbs sold are CFL and 20% are incandescent bulbs. And then 15%. And then 10%. And then… we’ll find that CFL bulbs have shown the way to Greenification.

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